Chapter 284: Maha (1)
Late at night, the travel party gathered at Louis’s summons.
“Hmm…”
“Hmph…”
“Um…”
They all tilted their heads, their faces puzzled.
Finally, Pablo raised his hand, voicing everyone’s question.
“Uh, Louis?”
“What?”
“Can I ask something?”
“Go ahead.”
“That… what… what’s that corpse?”
Before Pablo could finish, the group’s eyes darted to the corpse-like figure hanging upside down by Louis’s Sacred Scripture.
Wow… how badly was he beaten?
Is he dead?
It’s a miracle he’s still alive!
His face was so swollen, as if stung by bees, that it was unrecognizable.
As the group shuddered at Elvis’s gruesome state, Louis answered nonchalantly, “Oh, this? It’s nothing.”
”…This doesn’t seem like nothing. What exactly did he do to deserve being beaten to a pulp?” Pablo asked.
Louis glanced at the unconscious Elvis before answering. “He had no basic manners, so I decided to teach him a lesson he’ll never forget.”
“Ah…”
The travel party nodded in understanding. Louis’s earlier explanation had been more than sufficient.
With that, their attention shifted away from the corpse-like figure. Instead, Tania, who had been inching closer to Louis, asked with wide, sparkling eyes, “So, what did you call us here for this time? Is something wrong?”
“I’ll need to be away for a while on some business,” Louis replied.
Tania, the only one who hated Louis leaving, asked with trembling eyes, “H-how long will you be gone?”
“Hmm… roughly a few months.”
“Um, can’t we come with you?”
At that question, the rest of the travel party stared nervously at Louis. Their fate hung on his next words.
Under everyone’s intense gaze, Louis replied, “No, I’m going alone this time.”
“Ah…” Tania sighed, while the others looked slightly disappointed.
Except for Pablo, of course. He seemed secretly pleased that Louis would be gone.
“Instead, you all have your own tasks to handle. I need you to go somewhere. Pablo, you too.”
“M-me too?”
“Yes, you too.”
“Is there really something I can do?”
“No.”
“Then why…?”
“Because I hate seeing you gloat alone.”
”…”
Pablo’s smug expression withered.
Leaving Louis behind, Kendrick eagerly pressed his question.
“Where do we need to go?”
“That…” Louis gestured with his chin toward Elvis, still suspended in mid-air. “He’ll show you. Stick with him.”
The moment Louis finished speaking, an awkward silence fell over the group.
Lavina, her face twisted with unease, finally spoke. “The place we’re going… it’s not the afterlife, is it?”
No matter how she looked at it, the only place one would travel with a corpse was the afterlife.
Louis smiled enigmatically. “You’ll find out when you get there.”
Two days after Louis’s summons, several horses left the Imperial Palace and began their journey north.
Meanwhile, high above, Louis watched them depart and murmured to himself.
“Bringing Elvis on board was a good decision.”
The problem of not being able to find Mother of the Stars Abel despite scouring the continent for the past six months had been frustrating.
But with Elvis’s arrival, the issue was resolved with satisfying clarity.
Abel and Jerome are in the Elven Village…? So, knowing the future doesn’t mean you know everything…
After Louis’s rigorous etiquette training, Elvis had revealed this fact while speaking with an odd formality.
The truth was that Abel and Jerome weren’t in the Elven Village at all.
“No wonder we couldn’t find them. Our initial premise was wrong.”
The Empire’s failure to locate Abel wasn’t due to a lack of ability.
It was because Louis had provided incorrect information, which had misled the search.
Emperor, I’m sorry.
Louis felt a pang of guilt toward the Emperor, who had undoubtedly suffered anxiety because of his mistake.
After the incident with the apple that wasn’t quite an apple, a small worry flickered in Louis’s heart.
This… feels unsettling.
It was the first time.
Though he had occasionally been separated from his travel party for various reasons, they had never left to undertake a mission without him.
Moreover, Kendrick and Tania were disciples he had practically raised since childhood.
Sending them off felt as leaving young children near a body of water.
To make matters worse, the mission he had entrusted to them was more critical than he had initially thought:
Securing the allegiance of Mother of the Stars Abel and Heavenly Palace Jerome.
Retrieving the Sea God Palace Atelierize.
In particular, recovering the Sea God’s Bow from the Sea King’s Labyrinth might prove quite dangerous.
But…
I can’t keep them sheltered forever.
Though they still seemed young and vulnerable to him, they were already among the strongest in the human world.
In terms of raw stats, he was on par with Kendrick from the later stages of the original work.
He had solved many problems for them in the past, but now it was time for them to gain experience on their own.
They’ll grow even more from that experience. Besides, he’s with them.
Louis thought of Elvis.
Though his current level was far below what was described in the original work, none of those who had left possessed more experience than him.
He would be an excellent guide for Kendrick, Tania, and Lavina, who still lacked experience.
Moreover, the travel party had a reliable safety net.
If any problems arise, Pablo and Fin will let me know.
As long as he knew their location, he could reach them instantly.
“They’ll manage. If it’s them.”
They were who they were.
Now it was time to focus on his own tasks.
The moment Louis turned his gaze from the departing travel party, his figure vanished.
Whoosh.
A pure white cloud swept through the space where he had stood.
At that moment, he couldn’t have known that the meeting between the travel party would be delayed far beyond his expectations.
Sss…
A space where crimson energy surged like a dragon’s ascent.
Amidst the undulating aura of malevolent power, the Black Dragon lay dormant.
Days ago, the Mad Dragon had obtained Lotberia’s heart. Yet he remained unconscious.
Chulsoo88 seethed with frustration.
“Damn it! What the hell is this?!”
The Mad Dragon, which he had personally created, had always responded effortlessly to his will. But ever since coming into contact with Lotberia’s heart, the dragon had remained stubbornly unresponsive, no matter how many commands Chulsoo88 sent to awaken it.
Why is it acting like this? What went wrong?
It felt like his Bluetooth keyboard had suddenly stopped working right before he could defeat a boss monster that dropped a rare item—at the most critical moment.
Chulsoo88 had been irritated for a while, but he finally managed to calm himself down.
Right, the energy within Lotberia’s heart must be so strong that it’s taking time for the energy to settle. That must be it.
Why, hadn’t he seen similar things in movies and comics?
A period of adaptation was often required when absorbing powerful forces.
Chulsoo88 believed the Mad Dragon was currently in such a state.
Just a little longer, and he’ll wake up.
Just as Chulsoo88 was reassuring himself,
You understand perfectly.
The sudden voice startled Chulsoo88.
…?!
As you surmised, the heart’s energy is too potent, and the body is in the process of adapting. If things continue as they are, he should awaken smoothly within a few days.
A voice, thick and chillingly low, as if choked with phlegm, echoed in Chulsoo88’s mind—a voice he had never heard before, and one that made him deeply uneasy.
“Wh-who is it! Where are you speaking from?!”
Kluk, where else would I be? In the same place as you.
“W-what does that mean?”
Tsk, how utterly foolish.
The low voice dripped with contempt.
The more Chulsoo88 panicked, the more agitated he became.
“What have you done to me?!”
I haven’t done anything… yet.
“You… what exactly are you?!”
Hmm… who do you think I am?
The voice seemed to relish the question.
”…”
But Chulsoo88, overwhelmed by panic, couldn’t utter a word.
Then, a hint of pity crept back into the voice.
Hmph… You can’t even answer a simple question like this? You’re even dumber than I thought.
‘D-dumb?!’
Ha ha! Of course, I chose you precisely because of your stupidity and simplicity. If you were even slightly smarter, I wouldn’t have picked you.
‘What… what are you talking about?! Who are you?!’
Chulsoo88’s desperate scream echoed.
A chilling voice responded.
Who do you think showed a shut-in like you, who couldn’t even finish your studies, a new world?
’…?!’
Chulsoo88’s mind froze.
His thoughts turned as blank as a sheet of paper.
Memories of the past flickered through his mind.
No way…
If this were reality, Chulsoo88’s face would have turned deathly pale.
To you, who knew nothing but scribbling doodles and envying the successful… who was it that opened your eyes through a dream?
Those words confirmed Chulsoo88’s suspicions.
The webtoon he hadn’t even titled yet.
The reason he’d started that project was a recurring dream.
Day after day, the same story of an unreal world played out before him.
At first, the phenomenon terrified him, but later he became captivated by the world the dream revealed and the narrative that flowed within it.
At the same time, he was seized by an intense desire to capture the dream’s story through his own meager drawing skills.
After that, he gradually began to draw.
That was how his first work, under the name Chulsoo88, came to be.
Chulsoo88 had always believed that to be the case.
But…
If it wasn’t my imagination… if it wasn’t a dream… does that mean someone else intervened?
He couldn’t believe it.
No, no way! That’s impossible!
As Chulsoo88 denied it, the voice spoke again.
Impossible, you say… Then is the power you wield right now something that makes sense?
That’s…
Who would grant godlike abilities to a fool like you?
A faint amusement tinged the voice.
You didn’t think you gained the ability to interfere with this world purely by luck, did you?
’…’
By this point, Chulsoo88 had grasped the flow of the situation.
‘You… no way…’
The voice echoed as if resonating from within his own mind.
It had all started when he claimed Lotberia’s heart.
With a clear process and outcome, inferring the cause was simple.
The name of the entity that had possessed him flashed through Chulsoo88’s mind as if he were entranced.
’…Lotberia?’
Whether Chulsoo88’s voice had reached it or not, the voice remained silent for a moment.
Then, a burst of maniacal laughter erupted.
Cr-ha, cr-hahaha!
‘Ugh!’
Heh heh, Lotberia… Lotberia! Cr-hahaha!
‘S-stop! Stop!’
The overwhelming sound left Chulsoo88 unable to regain his composure.
It was a deafening resonance that felt like his eardrums were about to rupture.
But what tormented Chulsoo88 most was the murderous intent behind the laughter.
“S-stop… please… please stop!”
Whether his desperate plea had been heard or not, the laughter vanished, replaced by the voice once more.
Kluk, you seem to have put some thought into it…
“Hngh…”
Unfortunately, that’s not the correct answer.
“Hngh…”
Now, your role is finished. Return now.
Chulsoo88, already disoriented by the intense murderous aura he had never experienced before, felt his consciousness slipping away into the darkness.
Finally, all trace of Chulsoo88’s presence vanished from the world.
The entity that had driven out Chulsoo88’s consciousness laughed.
Heh heh, finally, a little breathing room.
His voice dripped with satisfaction.
Moreover, he…
Soon. It’s almost time…!
He reveled in the intense energy slowly surging through his body.
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